Focusing one's mind, one seeks out the ebb and flow of life. You get a sense of the true power of your opponent.

You can sense the presence of life force. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject. Life force is directly translatable into HD, and can be used to determine the amount of material components required for certain spells.

1st Round: Presence or absence of life force.

2nd Round: Number of life auras (living creatures only) in the area and the power of the most potent life aura present. In other words, the highest HD.

If the strongest life aura’s power is overwhelming (see below), and the HD or level of the aura’s source is at least twice your character level, you are stunned for 1 round and the spell ends.

3rd Round: The power and location of each aura. If an aura is outside your line of sight, then you discern its direction but not its exact location.

Aura Power: A life aura’s power depends on the type of living creature that you’re detecting and its HD, caster level, or (in the case of a cleric, paladin, or ki master) class level; see the accompanying table. If an aura falls into more than one strength category, the spell indicates the stronger of the two.

———————— Aura Power ————————

Creature/Object

Faint

Moderate

Strong

Overwhelming

Living creature1(HD)

5 or lower

6–15

16–30

31 or higher

Construct (HD)

10 or lower

11–25

26–40

41 or higher

Ki Master (class levels)

3 or lower

4–9

10–19

20 or higher

Clerics 2(class levels)

4 or lower

5–10

11–20

21 or higher

1 Undead and objects do not show up. Constructs and living magic items are handled elsewhere on the table.
2 Some characters who are not clerics may radiate an aura of equivalent power. The class description will indicate whether this applies.

Lingering Aura: A life aura lingers after its original source dissipates (in the case of a ki blast) or is destroyed (in the case of a creature or construct). If detect power level is cast and directed at such a location, the spell indicates an aura strength of dim (even weaker than a faint aura). How long the aura lingers at this dim level depends on its original power:

Original Strength

Duration of Lingering Aura

Faint

1d6 rounds

Moderate

1d6 minutes

Strong

1d6x10 minutes

Overwhelming

1d6 days

Undead and objects are not living, and as such this spell does not detect them. Constructs have a spirit bound to them and show up, but they register the same as people, and thus without a visual there is no way to tell what it could be.

Each round, you can turn to detect power level in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.